Historic Mountaineer Lodge at Snoqualmie Pass burns to the ground

Generations of outdoors lovers mourned the loss of a landmark today after learning the historic Mountaineers Lodge at Snoqualmie Pass had burned to the ground.

"It was one of the hearts of the community," said Steve Costie, executive director of the Seattle-based Mountaineers Club, which has eight chapters across the state. "It's a loss of an icon."

The fire at the 57-year-old mountain lodge was reported just after 5 a.m. today to the Washington State Patrol by people driving on nearby Interstate 90.

Video from a KIRO-TV helicopter showed only the foundation remained of the building. A sno-cat and at least one other vehicle also burned. There were no reports of injuries.

Costie was at home when he got the call around 7 a.m.

"I was just waking up. I kept uttering 'unbelievable,"' said Costie, who watched television reports of the fire. "It's just down to the foundation. It's a total loss."

The lodge was built in 1948 by about 160 volunteers — about 10 percent of members of the outdoor recreation club at the time. The wooden structure was on 20 acres near the Snoqualmie summit ski areas and the Pacific Crest Trail. It replaced the original Mountaineers Lodge that also was lost to fire in 1944, Costie said.

In 2001, the lodge was added to the state Register of Historic Places, he said.

Over the years, it was used by club members and rented to others as a base for skiing and hiking. Rope tows for skiers were shut down in 2002, Costie said, but it continued to be a draw for outdoor enthusiasts and a place for community meetings.

In January, some 600 people attended the annual Winter Trails Day, part of a national program organized by the American Hiking Society.

"Generations of volunteers and members have run that lodge," Costie said. "That sense of loss for the club ... we're talking about loss of an icon."

The lodge was maintained solely by volunteers. Two years ago, members replaced the roof on the three-story, 5,000-square-foot building, and other maintenance was planned, Costie said.

"We were always working on it. There was talk about what we wanted to do with the deck overlooking the southeast," he said.

In recent weeks the lodge had been closed for the season.

Investigators found footprints in the melting snow leading to and from the lodge, Costie said. He did not know when volunteers last visited but figured it would have been within the past week.

There was "no real property" inside, he said, except for "the kind of stuff you'd find in a mountain lodge": wooden furniture, first aid supplies and perhaps some training equipment like snow shoes and skis. Most would have been taken home by volunteers.

"There probably isn't that much that we've lost in terms of personal property," Costie said. "But there's a lot of memory that goes up there. That's what's gone."

He estimated the loss to be about $200,000; the Mountaineers Club didn't carry fire insurance.

Costie said the club's board of trustees would decide whether to rebuild.

The Mountaineers Club, founded 100 years ago, has about 11,000 members. In addition to its recreational programs, the club is well-known for publishing outdoor guidebooks.